Top FanFest tidbit: McCarthy likely Opening Day starter

Lots of newsy items from Oracle Arena today, including strong hints from manager Bob Melvin that Brandon McCarthy will be the Opening Day starter March 28 in Japan. Melvin said McCarthy and Bartolo Colon are likely to start the two games against the Mariners, which was expected, and the order sounds as if it will be just like that.

McCarthy said that would be fun, an Opening Day start is one of those things any pitcher would like to notch off, and being in Tokyo will only add to the fun.

Melvin didn’t provide a lot of clarity on the A’s many other questions going into the spring: the final two rotation spots after McCarthy, Colon and Dallas Braden (who probably will be very close to ready to go when his turn first comes up in April); the middle of the order; first base; the closer. Essentially, there will be a lot of competition at a lot of spots, and spring training will determine some or all of those things.

Speaking of the middle of the order, I continue to believe that the A’s are serious about signing Manny Ramirez. I have heard nothing negative about him from any A’s front-office types, nor have I heard anything to dissuade the impression that they’re pursuing him. Owner Lew Wolff reiterated his remarks to The Chronicle the other day that he’d have no opposition to signing Ramirez, despite his 50-game suspension for violating baseball’s performance-enhancing drug policy.

Ramirez would, at least, give the A’s a recognizable name as they go into a season with a young club and few expecations (“Dark-horse team at best,” McCarthy said of outside expectations for the team, before adding that the A’s could be a 60-win team or a 90-win team depending on how they come together.) Melvin said that he doesn’t like the term “rebuilding,” though, and he is not going to use it. He figures that every big-league team’s business is to win games, and that’s exactly what he and his coaching staff plan to prepare the A’s to do. He’s been in this situation before, with Arizona, so it’s not unfamiliar – it winds up meaning more hands-on coaching work than facilitating (as with a veteran club), and he doesn’t mind that at all.

Melvin does like the fact that the A’s have added a few more hard-nosed, go-go-go types, to go along with the hustle-happy Adam Rosales, including Petaluma’s Jonny Gomes (sporting a slick Mohawk today) and another outfielder, Collin Cowgill. Melvin knows Cowgill from the Arizona organization and he compares him to Eric Byrnes for his all-out style, and it’s no secret that Gomes is fiery and has had some fisticuffs on the field here and there. (Gomes told us today that he doesn’t condone fighting in baseball, but he then said that the 2008 AL champion Rays thrived after a spring training brawl with the Yankees and a regular-season melee with Boston).

Gomes was wearing No. 1 today, but he plans to wheedle No. 31 away from Brandon Allen, though he says he’d prefer not to “have to play the veteran card.”

Injury updates: Daric Barton says his fall shoulder surgery will limit him to DHing until mid-March, but I don’t believe that will impact his ability to win back the first base job. The A’s already know what he can do defensively – despite some poor play there last season, the team still considers Barton their best defensive first baseman. He must show some offensive production to win back time there.

In addition, outfielder Josh Reddick says his left wrist surgery after the 2011 season will not hamper him in any way during the spring. He is swinging the bat already after having a cartilege tear fixed and a cyst removed. Braden throws off the mound tomorrow for the first time since surgery, 25 fastballs, “probably with vapor trails behind them,” he joked.

Wolff says his one-on-one sessions with fans today were courteous, even if they agreed to disagree. He explained all the various things we’ve heard all offseason about why the A’s are not looking for a stadium in Oakland, why they want to go to San Jose, why they’re trading so many good players, and so forth. I’ve heard he was booed in the concourse, but, hey, sweet-talking one fan at a time might not win over the entire base all at once.

Wolff spoke to the local media for more than half an hour and there wasn’t really anything new. They need a new venue, they are approaching it like they’re going to get one, it could be ready for 2015, maybe, if they get the OK for San Jose soon, but 2016 might be more realistic. He said more than once that today’s event should have been taking place in a new venue already, instead of just standing around talking about it.

The A’s do have a lot of new faces, and it’s going to take everyone a little while to become fully acquainted. “I’ve already called one person by the wrong name,” new outfielder Seth Smith said. “I called Tyson Ross ‘Tyler.’ ”

Starter Brad Peacock gets credit for the roughest travel schedule: He flew from West Palm Beach, Fla., at 5:30 a.m. this morning, because he was in his best friend’s wedding yesterday. He heads back tomorrow night, so he can at least get a little sleep tomorrow morning. Big wedding, early-morning cross-country flight, that is not an ideal combination. He’s showing he’s a trooper already: This event wasn’t mandatory, and he had an excellent excuse not to come, but he did anyway.

FanFest, held for the first time since 2008 and for the first time at Oracle Arena, drew more than 7,000, close to capacity for the event.